Horticultural differences: the Florentine garden of Don Luis de Toledo and the nuns of San Domenico del Maglio

摘要

The creation of pleasure and kitchen — fruit, vegetable, and herb — gardens is usually seen as two complementary aspects of Italian horticultural practice. During the Middle Ages, they were often planned side by side, separated by ditches, hedges, or low walls. Sixteenth-century architectural treatises, such as Palladio's Quattro libri (1570) in the description of Villa Barbara at Maser, also portray a smooth transition between the pleasure garden and the agricultural part of the estate. The differences between these recreational and agrarian areas — expressed through their location, layout, and features — cannot, however, be reduced to a mere contrast between their aesthetic and practical aims. Apart from profit and leisure, these differences also concerned such matters as prestige and health, reflecting general attitudes to nature as well as the ostensible value of land. The history of the garden of Don Luis de Toledo (c. 1519-97), which existed in Florence between 1551 and 1580, shows how these two horticultural paradigms could become difficult to reconcile. Laid out on the land bought from the convent of S. Domenico del Maglio, this vast verdant and sculptural ensemble was converted for agricultural purposes once again when, less than three decades later, the nuns managed to retrieve their former property. The creation and destruction of this garden is the subject of the present study.